Increased border security

[jgr451]

More than 300,000 people travel between the United States and Canada each day. Only about 20 percent of U.S. citizens and 40 percent of Canadians hold passports, which cost nearly $100. The U.S.-proposed PASS cards would cost about half that price.

Add up the 3 minutes for each polite encounter and multiply by the 300,000 such every day;factor in the impolite encounters,full searches,detentions,hassles,false alarms;and we get a sense of how much time goes up in smoke at the border crossings;all the while thousands of engines are idling while the occupants stand on brake pedals.Then add up the issues on the border with Mexico and travellers from other countries at airports!!
I think that as the bureaucracy gets thicker and deeper there will be less cross border personal visiting;the traffic will be primarily commercial;and we North Americans will begin to experience a loss of neighbourliness and connection with each other ,that I for one have always felt and never doubted.It is easier to know and understand your neighbours if you hang out with them.Chances are that if all we get to see and hear about our neighbours is on TV, we will form a much different and colder relationship.

[mika]

I miss the simplicity the crossing had in my childhood. I was exiting my email just before posting this and this is what came up when I signed out.

[PacWestGS]

I miss the simplicity the crossing had in my childhood. I was exiting my email just before posting this and this is what came up when I signed out.

Hey 'moderators' when are we going to get an emoticon with a Canadian Flag?

[PacWestGS]

Sounds like you had an easier crossing as a guest than I had as a citizen when I came back from a pedestrian trip into Mexico. And no, I don't look Mexican.

Being mostly 'Portuguese' looking the last time I crossed the Canadian Border with my wife (Thai) and my brother, we all showed our drivers licenses and my wife showed her 'Green Card' (Two WA DLs and one CA DL none of them new), the US CBP Officer asked my brother and I if we had Birth Certificates or Passports to prove citenzenship.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact I look Iraqi or from some other Middle Eastern countries?

My 'foreigner' wife, no problem, 'Welcome to the USA'

[jgr451]

Hey 'moderators' when are we going to get an emoticon with a Canadian Flag?

Right on SFDoc,a badly neded extra sign.That and the banana riding the llama.Essentials for clear communications.

Where's Vince?

[skiziks]

Last time we crossed into the U.S. from Canada, one of our group was fingerprinted and iris scanned or blood was taken (I can't remember which). He looks "Arabian".

The day they ask me for any of the above is the LAST day I will ever come to "the land of the free" (yeah right, this is freedom) and "the home of the brave".

I've been told the "new" border card for entry from Canada to the U.S. will require fingerprinting at a minimum before being issued. That'll pretty well do it for me. I better get my south of the border visiting in quick. I plan on keeping my freedom.

[raven]

Don't like iris scans, fingerprints...............................get a passport, now, before the requirements change.

Perhaps your thought process needs adjustment, many believe it a considerable privilage to have the ability to travel to and in a foreign
country. The United States is my home, and frankly, I don't care much if anyone is offened by my desire to know the person who comes into my home.

Todays back-up at borders were considerable, even at some of the remote crossings. I was not able to see the end of the southbound back-ups at Champlain(interstate 87), NYS Route 276, Rouses Point, Alburg, Alburg Springs and Highgate Springs (Interstate 89). With the Canadian Dollar rising in value I would expect the crossings to be busy all summer and especially so on the weekends.

[jgr451]

When the family watchdog has become completely unable to distinguish friend from foe as he/she/it attends at your house;and even turns on the dweller of the house with the same aggression,suspicion and hostility...time for a new watchdog.

The US is not your house.Any more than Canada is mine.Or Britain is somebody else's.Treating the ability to travel as a Privilege rather than as a right,is a darn sure way to ensure "You can't go there."If some are happy never to leave their own shores,fine;some think the world is a bit of a bigger place.We all need room for thought adjustment.

Anybody been to Cuba lately?